Komentarz do Wyjścia 2:15

וישמע פרעה AND PHARAOH HEARD IT — they (Dathan and Abiram) slandered (denounced) him (Exodus Rabbah 1:31).

וישב בארץ מדין. A general description of the locality, followed by more details of why he settled there, i.e. his experience at the well. He had originally only stopped there for refreshment as do most travelers. The Torah follows this with the story of Yitro and his daughters.

. וישב בארץ מדין. He had decided to remain for a while in that country.

ולכהן מדין שבע בנות, “and the priest of Midian had seven daughters.” Their father was not mentioned by name as his reputation was based on his official status, i.e. that he was the High Priest of the Midianites. In fact, he was identical with the well known Yitro about whom we will hear more. We know that it was he, as the Torah narrates: וישב אל יתר חותנו, he (Moses) dwelled with his father-in-law Yeter, which is short for Yitro. We find similar interchangeable names elsewhere, such as Elijah sometimes being spelled אליה and other times אליהו. After Yitro converted to Judaism he was renamed חובב, as we know from Judges 4,11 מבני חבב חתן משה, “and from amongst the descendants of Chovav, Moses’ father-in-law, etc.” It is customary to give new names to people who convert to Judaism. Chovav was actually a son of Re-uel, as is written in Numbers 10,29 ויאמר משה לחבב בן רעואל, “Moses said to Chovav son of Reu-el.” As to Exodus 2,18 ותבאנה אל רעואל אביהם, “when they came to Re-uel, their father,” which on the face of it seems to contradict what we have said, it is not unusual for the paternal grandfather to be described as “father.” Yaakov himself described Avraham, his grandfather, as “my father,” when he spoke about “the G’d of my father Avraham” in Genesis 31 as well as in Genesis The reason why the daughters of Yitro are reported as returning to the house of Re-uel is that their father was not at home but occupied with his tasks as the High Priest of the country.

They (Dosson and Avirom) informed on him. [Rashi knows this because] it says later on (Shemos 4:19): “For they have died — all the men who had sought your life.” This was Dosson and Avirom, as we see in Maseches Nedarim 64b. (Nachalas Yaakov)

את הדבר הזה, this matter, etc. Moses used the word הזה, to indicate that it was only after this aggressive Jew had said to Moses: "are you going to kill me also, etc." that he realised with certainty that he had observed him killing the Egyptian.

V. 15. Das ויבקש להרוג setzt eine besondere Stellung voraus. Pharao war ja ein absoluter König und Moses hatte einen Mord begangen. Es heißt auch nicht להמית, der gewöhnliche Ausdruck für Hinrichtung, sondern להרוג. Moses muss somit als Adoptivsohn der Fürstin eine sehr angesehene Stellung innegehabt haben, dass Pharao Rücksichten zu nehmen hatte, welche einem gewöhnlichen Menschen wohl nicht zu gute gekommen wären. — ויברח וישב. Er floh und kam erst zur Ruhe, ließ sich erst ruhig nieder im Lande Midjan. Zwischen dieser Flucht und der Niederlassung in Midjan muss eine sehr geraume Zeit verstrichen sein. Bei seiner Rückkehr war er 80 Jahre alt und es war ihm eben erst höchstens sein zweiter Sohn geboren. Es ist wohl unwahrscheinlich, das eben erzählte Ereignis von dem ויגדל משה zu trennen und auf eine um so viel spätere Zeit zu verlegen.

ויבקש להרגו, “he tried to have him executed.” He handed him over to his executioner. However the executioner’s sword did not carry out its function. His neck had turned into stone. (Jerusalem Talmud tractate B’rachot 9,1) As a result, Moses was able to flee to Midian. The numerical value in the words: וישב משה, “Moses settled down,” are equivalent to אבן שיש, “stone of marble.” A Midrash quoted on the same folio of the Jerusalem Talmud just related also says that the Archangel Gavriel descended to earth, grabbed the executioner’s sword and made his face look like that of Moses, and proceeded to execute him. [It would have taken a while to realise that the dead body was not that of Moses, giving him a head start when he fled. Ed.]

ויבקש להרג את משה AND HE SOUGHT TO SLAY MOSES — He handed him over to the executioner to slay him, but the sword proved powerless against him. It is to this that Moses referred when he said, (18:4) “And He delivered me from Pharaoh’s sword” (see Mechilta יתרו and Exodus Rabbah 1:31).

וישב על הבאר. While Moses was traveling through the land of Midian it happened once that he settled near a certain (well known) well. The construction here is similar to Genesis 28,11) which describes Yaakov as encountering a certain place, also described with the preposition ה i.e. המקום instead of simply מקום, to show that the site had been known already.

ותבאנה ותדלנה, “they came and drew water, etc.” According to Nachmanides these words describe their normal habits, i.e. that on every day the male shepherds would water their flocks first, before the arrival of the daughters of Yitro with their flocks. On that particular day, the daughters of Yitro arrived at the watering troughs ahead of the male shepherds, assuming that they could proceed and water their flocks first, without interfering with the flocks of the male shepherds who were due to arrive at that spot later. They had already filled the troughs with water from the well used. As luck would have it, they had miscalculated, and the male shepherds arrived prematurely, and when they saw what had happened they simply drove off Yitro’s daughters, intending to water their flocks first as was their custom. The violent means used by the male shepherds enraged Moses so that he intervened on behalf of the female shepherds, helping them to water their flocks first as they had intended. He also helped with the actual drawing of the water, as the troughs did not hold enough water to still the thirst of the whole flock in one filling. Upon their return home, their grandfather was surprised to see them return so early. This is why he questioned them, and they answered that a distinguished Egyptian had helped them.

ויבקש להרוג אותו. He tried to kill him. This means that Pharaoh tried to establish proof that Moses had killed the Egyptian as a result of which he would be brought to trial and be executed. This is why Moses fled from Pharaoh in case Pharaoh would obtain enough proof to make him stand trial. On the other hand, the words מפני פרעה may refer to Pharaoh's face. When Moses looked at Pharaoh's angry face he realised that he was in danger and fled even though he did not know what Pharaoh knew and what he did not.

[וישב בארץ מדין AND HE ABODE IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN — the word וישב means he stayed there, as (Genesis 37:1) “And Jacob abode (וישב)‎”.]

וישב על הבאר — Here the word וישב has the meaning of sitting down. He learnt to sit at the well from Jacob whose marriage had been brought about by means of a well (Exodus Rabbah 1:32).